


Family Is The Best Gift

by clintbartonswife



Series: Christmas drabbles/fics 2019 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Reader-Insert, The Avengers Are Good Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22161199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clintbartonswife/pseuds/clintbartonswife
Summary: You’re shocked to discover that most of the Avengers have not had a proper Christmas for years - if ever. You set out to fix it.“What smells so good?” Sam mumbled, rubbing his eyes sleepily.“Yeah - Wait - Who decorated?”Nat was interrupted by Thor, who extravagantly strode into the common room with a wide smile.“Merry Christmas! Lady y/n and I have made a Yuletide feast for you all”
Relationships: Avengers Team & Reader
Series: Christmas drabbles/fics 2019 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560466
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

When you first joined the Avengers, a year after the Ultron fiasco you could see that you were entering one big dysfunctional family. There was no denying that they loved eachother, but they lacked basic trust in their relationships, as if they expected everything to fall apart at any second.  
Really, you shouldn’t have been so shocked that they didn’t have a proper Christmas.   
It would’ve been fine (okay, not fine but you were trying to not be so dramatic here) had they only missed Christmas for the few years since the team had started, but no.  
For Tony, Christmas was a time were he showered people closest to him with his wealth. At first you’d been annoyed by this, that is until you figured out the reason why: his shitty parents. Instead of spending time with his son in the holidays, Howard would throw expensive gifts at him before leaving to a fancy party with Maria, leaving Tony alone with Jarvis at home. That shit was not gonna fly with you.  
Steve and Bucky, whilst celebrating Christmas with their family, had lived during one of the worst financial times in America’s history. Not to mention that since ‘waking up’ Steve hadn’t celebrated a single thing - birthdays don’t count as he had to be literally forced out of his room by Tony every year. When Bucky joined the picture you knew you had to do something for the brainwashed assassin, hoping that maybe the experience would bring him some happiness.  
Clint - the circus runaway with an abusive dad, a brother that abandoned him and a bag full of mental issues obviously didn’t have such a good childhood, holidays pushed aside in favour of training so that he could escape the next lashing from Trickshot.  
Similarly, Natasha’s time with the Red Room left her with a less than stellar childhood. Instead of hot meals surrounded by loved ones she survived years of cold training, lacking empathy and care. When she finally escaped their ranks holidays were obviously not at the top of her list.  
The newest arrivals: Pietro and Wanda had it slightly better, living a poor but happy life until … that happened.  
Sam, Rhodey, Thor and Vision were just along for the ride, with not-so-tragic childhoods (after all Vision was only shy of a year old) but part of the dysfunctional family nonetheless.  
So, when the whole team was called out on a mission a week before Christmas you knew what had to be done. 

The first step of your plan was getting out of the mission, which was a hefty task in of itself. Thankfully you were known to be accident prone, so could easily explain how you had mysteriously twisted an ankle the night before leaving.   
Once everyone had gone, you called on Heimdall to send Thor to you. This was the part that you were the most skeptical about, yet within half an hour the blond god had landed on the roof, bringing you into a large hug.   
“Lady y/n! What occasion caused you to summon me?”  
“Well, you always say that you’d love to learn more about our traditions so I thought you’d like to be here for Christmas”  
The god grinned luminously, striding in to the common area with shining eyes.  
“Another midgardian tradition! I would be honoured to attend this Christmas celebration”  
“Great” you chuckled, directing him to the kitchen, “I’ll start by teaching you about the food”  
Thor watched enraptured as you moved around the kitchen, preparing the meal so that it was ready to cook before the team arrived home. 

“What else goes into this celebration?” Thor asked, clapping his hands together.   
“Decorations”   
You led him to the cardboard box full of ornaments, revealing the bright colours with a smile.   
“Aha! These remind me of a celebration that us Asgardians have. During the winter solstice we have Yuletide” Thor explained, picking up a wreath out of the box, “we celebrate my father and the Wild Hunt with a big feast that the whole town is invited to”  
You nodded, helping Thor put up the decorations as he gave a quick history lesson of his people.   
“What I don’t understand though,” he said, turning to face you, “is the significance of the tree. Is it supposed to represent Yggdrasil?”  
“Ah, no. I don’t think that it has one meaning, as every religion seems to attach its own. Christianity sees it as a sign of everlasting life with God, while Pagans use it to represent the spring to come. It’s really up to the owner of the tree to see it how they like”  
“Fascinating”  
“Ms y/n, the team have completed the mission. ETA an hour and a half”  
“Thank you FRIDAY, I’ll start putting the food in the oven”

The groans of the team were the first thing you heard as the doors opened, followed by the ‘oof’ of the sofa cushions as they launched themselves onto them.   
“What smells so good?” Sam mumbled, rubbing his eyes sleepily.   
“Yeah - Wait - Who decorated?”  
Nat was interrupted by Thor, who extravagantly strode into the common room with a wide smile.   
“Merry Christmas! Lady y/n and I have made a Yuletide feast for you all”  
“Thor?”  
“Feast?”  
You sniggered quietly, sticking your head out of the kitchen to talk.   
“Get your asses to the table so we can feed you. I’ll be damned if y’all miss another Christmas on my watch”  
Confused, but seemingly excited, they all dragged themselves to the dining table, watching with wide eyes as you placed the food down.   
“I shall get the turkey” Thor announced, looking pleased with himself at the shocked expressions of his teammates.   
“This looks amazing, thank you” Clint grinned, already loading his plate with potatoes.   
“I don’t know what to say” Tony admitted softly, eyes conveying all the gratitude he wouldn’t say out loud. You just gave him a smile, nodding in understanding.   
“I just wanted you all to have a good Christmas. It is a few days early but I know Sam’s going home for the holidays and I didn’t want him to miss it”  
As Thor returned with the turkey, a small sound of shock was heard from the two super soldiers, their eyes locked on a dish set in front of them.   
“Is this-?”  
Steve trailed off, exchanging a glance with Bucky before directing his gaze to you.   
You nodded, “I asked FRIDAY what kind of dishes you would’ve had in the 30s, I tried to make it as accurate as possible but some of the ingredients weren’t available-“  
You were cut off as Bucky stood up, tugging you into a hug, expressing his thanks.   
“It’s really no problem” you beamed, “I just wanted to make everyone feel at home. I also tried making some chicken paprikash for the twins, just in case they didn’t like anything else”  
“Everything looks lovely” Rhodey assured, pulling out the seat next to him and gesturing for you to sit, “now sit down so we can all start eating”  
You bit down a chuckle as you did as he said, eyes scanning across the table as you did so.   
Natasha was silently bickering with Clint over the last of the potatoes, winning as she smacked his hand with the serving spoon causing him to lose his grip on the dish.   
Next to her, Sam, Bucky and Steve were all in deep conversation -most likely the two were reminiscing while Sam listened - as they tucked into their food.   
The twins were hesitantly trying the stuffing, unsure, whilst Vision explained what was in it.   
Tony, Bruce and Rhodey had started some conversation about quantum physics as they ate their chicken, pausing every now and then to enjoy their food.  
Which left you and Thor.   
“I think we did a pretty good job” you said, smiling at the blond.   
“Indeed we did!” He cheered, raising his eggnog in agreement, “and I do like this beverage. Another!”  
“Thor no!”  
“Sir would like to remind Mr Thor that on Earth we do not smash glasses once their empty”


	2. Chapter 2

“I have some early presents for you all”  
You received some half-hearted noises of acknowledgement from the team, who were sprawled out on the sofas, faces filled with the look of contentment that only good food could bring.   
“wassit?” Tony mumbled, words muffled by the arm that was thrown over his face, eyes watching you blearily.  
“I got you all a stocking to put over the fireplace” you smiled, holding up a bag.  
You shuffled awkwardly on the spot as everyone went silent, giving you weird looks that you couldn’t quite work out. The longer the silence went on, the more uncomfortable you got.  
“God - I’m sorry it was a stupid idea I don’t know why I-”  
“No! It’s not that,” Nat interrupted, her voice sounding suspiciously choked up, “I just - that’s a really nice - no one’s ever -”  
She broke off with a cough, trying to clear her throat as she sat up from her lounging position.  
“What’s a stocking for?” Pietro asked, watching you curiously, “I thought you put those over your legs? no?”  
A small giggle escaped your lips as you shook your head at him.  
“These are a different kind of stocking. At Christmas, you get a stocking for everyone in your family and hang them on the fireplace”  
“Family” Wanda repeated, eyes shining with unshed tears.  
You panicked, thinking you had upset her again, “I’m sorry, I’ll take them back I don’t know what I was thinking-”  
Sam just chuckled, standing up and placing a hand on your shoulder.  
“y/n, chill. We were just shocked, that’s all. Gimmie my stocking”  
You let out a sigh of relief, handing him his stocking with a nervous smile. He made a big show of placing it on the wall (due to the lack of said fireplace) and turned around to face the room with a showman’s smile.   
“Ta da!”  
“I would like to go next Lady y/n!” Thor announced, standing in front of you with his hand extended.   
You watched with repressed laughter as Thor copied Sam’s intensity, making the hook wobble precariously with the amount of gusto behind his actions.   
“That was very much fun indeed!” He boomed, his smile lighting up as he faced the room, “Who is to place their stocking next?”  
If they had been hesitant before, seeing Thor’s enthusiasm seem to boot the team back into motion, the Maximoff twins standing up with (admittedly less) excitement.   
By the time the wall was almost covered, only you were left, a satisfied smile pulling at your lips as you placed your stocking, completing the family.   
“I don’t think I’ve ever done that” Tony admitted, leaning back in his chair, eyes trained on the wall, “it sounds ridiculous that oversized socks can make you feel so included in something-“  
He trailed off, Natasha filling in the silence with her thoughts, “it’s the symbolism”  
A few hums of agreement were heard from around the room, Rhodey pulling Tony’s back against his chest.   
“Thank you y/n, and you too Thor” Steve said, his sincerety coming through in waves, “this was … truly amazing”  
“No problem friends” Thor beamed, clapping a hand on your shoulder boisterously, “Thank you all for letting me celebrate this Christmas with you!”  
You just laughed, turning to face the god, “you’re always welcome here Thor, you know that”  
“Yeah” Pietro chimed in, exchanging a glance with Clint and Wanda, “We’re family”


End file.
